Why Obama Can Keep Gates

As Barack Obama makes his way
through the transition to power, he is learning the steps of an old
dance. Having promised change, he now surrounds himself with
experience. Having poured scorn not only on the Bush administration but
at times on the Clinton administration as well, he now welcomes those
who served his Democratic predecessor, including the former first lady
who ran against him. And having roundly denounced current foreign and
military policies, he may very well ask Defense Secretary Robert Gates
to remain in place.

While
Obama displays both confidence and maturity in embracing his former
adversaries, he must expect cries of outrage and disappointment from
his own supporters. If the prospect of appointing Hillary Clinton as
secretary of state irritates the Obama base, what will they make of
keeping the man who has executed President Bush's policies at the
Pentagon?

First it is important to recall that the president-elect
vowed to bring change to politics as well as policy. The Obama
administration would foster bipartisan cooperation wherever possible,
he said, especially in matters of foreign policy and national
security. If those are his objectives, then retaining Mr. Gates makes
considerable senseat least for the time being.

Of
all the possible holdover appointees, the defense secretary has the
highest reputation for effectiveness and the lowest potential for
conflict with the new president. Unlike the previous occupant, he is
respected in Congress and among the military's general staff. Based
on his personal history, Gates seems to have a stronger basis for
agreement with Mr. Obama than with his current boss on the salient
issues of Iraq, Iran and Afghanistan.

The Iraq Study Group's Recommendations Suit Obama

Remember
that during the months before President Bush asked him to replace
Donald Rumsfeld at the Pentagon, Gates was serving on the Iraq
Study Group (ISG) headed by former Secretary of State James Baker and
former Rep. Lee Hamilton. The study group's best-selling report,
released only weeks after Mr. Gates resigned to accept the Bush
appointment, was strongly critical of the president's failed policies
in Iraq.

Contrary to policies favored by President Bush at the time, the report urged immediate diplomatic contacts with all of Iraq's
neighbors, including Iran and Syria, in an effort to achieve stability,
as well as negotiations with the Sunni insurgents that would lead to
amnesty. The aim of those efforts was to achieve an orderly withdrawal
of American troops from Iraq sooner rather than later. The report expressed deep worry that the Iraq war had diverted military and diplomatic resources away from the conflict in Afghanistan.

The Iraq
Study Group's recommendations and concerns sound familiar because they
reflect the views expressed repeatedly by Obama ever since he announced
his presidential candidacy. When President Bush largely
rejected the ISG findings, his new secretary of defense felt obliged to
distance himself from them as well. But according to the panel's other
members, it was Gates who had in fact written much of the report, and
he concurred fully with its views.

Upon assuming control of
the Pentagon, Gates did his best to subordinate his own opinions to
administration policy, working hard to make the best of the troop
escalation in Iraq
despite personal doubts about the long-term wisdom of the “surge.” But
he never echoed the Bush administration's official hostility to a
timetable for withdrawal from Iraqand in fact at one point praised the debate over timetables in Washington
as a means of increasing pressure on the Iraqis to achieve
reconciliation and security on their own.

That should sound familiar,
too, because it is so close to Obama's stated policy.

When
Gates was first nominated to serve as defense secretary, many
unanswered questions lingered from his years at the CIA, and in
particular regarding his role in the Iran-Contra affair. But the
Democrats have already forfeited their opportunity to revive that
scandal. There are many more urgent matters for them to address in the
constitutional depredations of the past eight years. Gates is
responsible for none of them.

Whether he will be able to come to terms
with Obama on conditions for extending his tenure at the Pentagon
remains to be seen. The president-elect may balk at permitting him to
name his deputies. There could be other obstacles to continuing. But
appointments matter less than policiesand Gates seems well suited to
carry out the commands of the new commander in chief.

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